Alice is suddenly more…baby-like instead of blob-like.

She’s awake for longer stretches at a time now, and she’s not so damn squawky during them. But she still follows the same pattern: Sleep, poop, wake, feed, poop, awake/play/happy, sleep.

At night, she is going down for the night between 9 and 10, and sleeping for long chunks of time: Last night until 7 a.m. (!), the night before until 5:30 a.m. and then back to sleep until 8.

The only downfall with all of this is still how unpredictable the timing of her schedule is. Sometimes she sleeps through dinner so I can cook and we can eat in peace; others she is cranky and crying. Some mornings she sleeps for an hour; today just 20 minutes.

I’m trying hard to get her to sleep in her basinette during the day, as opposed to some moving object such as her carseat or swing or the sling. I’m not sure if these keep her artificially asleep for longer, or what, but she won’t rest for more than 45 mins. in her bed before waking. I know Alice is still so little, and is sleeping well in there at night, so I’m not worried. It can just be frustrating when I’m trying to do house stuff or play with Lucy.

When she’s happy, ohmy is she happy. The chubber face smiles that light up her face just melt your heart. Her eyes widen, and her cheeks fold. Her McDougall chin disappears into the double chin below.

She’s got great vocabulary, too: Ha-oh, eye, ah. Not even 10 weeks old, and she’ll talk back to you.

Feeding: 6-8 times a day. Recently started nuzzling into the side of your neck when hungry. Great head control. She likes to sit face forward on our laps and listen to books.

She has the softest nose. I love to kiss it when rocking her to sleep.

At her crankiest moments, Alice will instantly calm when she sees Lucy. She’ll sit on our laps and stare in awe at her. Follow Lucy around the room with her eyes. Watch her eat or play house. You can tell she’s just aching to join in, to chase and play. If Alice is in the bouncy chair and Lucy comes to say hi or play with the dangling toys, Alice’s arms pump up and down, her feet thump like a jack rabbit, and her eyes widen as far as they can go.

I never, ever thought Alice would be so into her sister at such a young age. It’s amazing.

If I had to sum up almost 3-years-old, these photos from Christmas Eve say it all:

 ”Lucy, for goodness sake, please take your finger out of your nose.”

“Smile! Wonderful! Perfect! Let’s get one more!”

Um…

(And yes, we did leave a beer for Santa. I did it when I was a little girl, and Lucy thought it was a great idea. Next year we may leave some scotch, as Eric says Santa REALLY loves it…)

Anie, one of the women from my weekly Durham Mom’s Night Out group, is due with her first baby right about now, and is already thinking about daycare for her daughter — and rightly so.

She is only able to take four months off from work.

Can you click here to pop over to the Durham Region Daycare blog, where I’ve done a post with her questions, and share some advice?

Thanks!

p.s. — I finally finished Alice’s birth story this weekend. You can find it here.

Next weekend is Eric’s work’s holiday party, a sort of post-Christmas dinner-dance-mingle thing at a fancy convention hall. To visit his work and meet his co-workers is a rather ridiculous feat involving a few day’s notice, registration and possible DNA sampling (kidding on the last one, but it’s not far off…) because of security, so it’s exciting to go and meet the people he talks about all the time.

Jan. 10 sort of snuck up on me, and when I saw the shindig was just a week away, a mild sense of panic took over. In stereotypical female fashion, I have nothing to wear. Literally.

Nine weeks since giving birth, my body is in that dreaded post-partum in between stage: Maternity clothes are either too big or push things up in ways they are not supposed to when one is not pregnant (belly, I’m talking to you) (and really, who wants to wear maternity clothes when they’re no longer with child?), and regular clothes are still yelling, “Hell, no, sista!” and giving me the finger from the bottom of the drawer.

I’m lumpy. And still sorta jiggly. With big boobs. Have fun clothing that.

So after a nice brunch at Golden Griddle with family this morning, Eric and I took advantage of Lucy staying over at my parents’ tonight, and hit up the Pickering Town Centre to find me A Fancy Outfit.

(Note: After adding a second child to the mix? Doing anything with just one is so. damn. easy.)

Here are my post-baby-body tips for clothes shopping:

• It takes 9+ months to put on all that weight, and it’ll take 9+ months (at least, and longer if you continue to breastfeed) to take it off. Go easy on yourself. You earned those lumps!
• Stay away from the low-waisted pants. Probably forever, as in my case, but especially right now. They are not and may never again be your friend. Once you accept this, shopping will be infinitely easier. Granted, it may take some determination to find pants that don’t show your butt crack like The Kids Are Wearing These Days, but they are out there. And I don’t mean pants that come up to your arm pits a la elastic waistband granny polyester trousers, but a mid-rise pant that sits just below the belly button
• Bring someone with you. It’s so easy to get discouraged and frustrated, and having a supportive person along is really helpful

I ended up with a jersey-like black dress pant ($30, Ricki’s), and a fuchsia, gauzy shirt ($15, H&M) that ties at my waist (not under my boobs) in the front (not at the back, both of which are too much like an empire-waisted maternity shirt, a style I will never, ever wear again for this exact reason).

I’m really happy, and can’t wait to get really dressed up for the first time in well over a year.

Dear Alice: It is a true testament to life with you and your sister that it’s now a day after your official two month birthday, and almost a week since you turned eight weeks old, and not only has there not been time to write a letter to you, but your birth story is still banging around in my head. But today, the first day of a new year in which you will morph from a flailing, smiling blob into a giggling, crawling girl, I promised you and me it would get done. Here, my sweet pumpkin spice loaf, is how you came into the world and completed our family.

October 31, 2008.

This day, it didn’t seem odd that it was rather uncomfortable to stand up. After all, Alice was was a week late, and I was aching and awkward. In the grocery store parking lot the day before, spasms of pain ripped down the fronts of my legs, and I collapsed to my knees, clutching the cart.

To say I wanted this baby out was an understatement.

This day, it was unusually sunny and warm for late fall, and the maple leaves on our front lawn reflected the brightness of the morning. Jen O., Eirinn and Avery came out for a little Halloween party, and we enjoyed a great morning painting pumpkins and decorating cupcakes. Jen knew I was miserable, and she and the girls were such a welcome distraction.

It was when we went upstairs shortly before noon to show off Lucy and Alice’s rooms that I noticed something odd. There was a tightening from across my lower back that ripped to the front of my stretched belly, and I immediately had to sit in the flower sheet-covered Ikea Poang chair in the corner. I wrote it off as yet another late pregnancy symptom.

But a few minutes later, another one came. When we were outside snapping photos of the girls giggling and careening around our giant inflatable pumpkin, yet another one. As Jen packed her daughters into the car, I mentioned I was feeling funny, and might have to call Eric. I can still see her excited face asking what I was feeling and wishing us a quick and painless (haha) labour before she drove away.

I popped Lucy into her booster seat — no longer able to run after her — and started some toast. I also jotted down the time (12:41) when another wave of tightening hit. In the middle of spreading Cheez Whiz, I had to write the time again (12:47). And again while pouring milk (12:50) and grabbing grapes from the fridge (12:55). I finally understood that I’d been having minor, sporadic contractions all morning long, but the paper in front of me showed a pattern.

This day, I went into labour.

This day was the one and only day I didn’t want to deliver. Even being a week late and desperate, it was really important for me to have Halloween to take Lucy trick or treating like I’d done the past two years. Eric, my Mom and mother-in-law all listed no-baby dates because of important work or church deadlines, but I had none until it became clear Alice was going to arrive later than we thought she was. And of course she came then.

First I called Eric, warning him something was up. He headed out to grab lunch.

Then I called my Dad, just a few minutes away, to come to the house to look after Lucy. Next came my Mom, at work in Aurora. Then Eric again, in the middle of chili and garlic toast at Tim Hortons: “You, um, need to come home right now.”

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Looking for something to do with the kids this evening and tomorrow to ring in 2009?

Parent Source has a great calender of local events, including free skates, family countdowns, and mayor’s levees.

Check it out here.

Hope you’re happy and healthy and have a wonderful and relaxing night, no matter what you do. We’re staying in tonight, and looking forward to watching a movie with some snacks…hopefully without these two, albeit adorable, wee ones.

Happy New Year!

My lovely friend Laura has two kids, Carson and Hannah. They were both spoiled this Christmas, and the house is now drowning in toys new and old.

Sound familiar?

Instead of selling the excess, Laura, being the thoughtful and generous woman she is, wants to donate toys to a local women’s shelter, single parent or some similar charity/situation.

Any ideas?

I’m sure there are many of you in the same situation, so any suggestions would be wonderful.

I am enjoying a much-need break from the computer. Eric is off until Friday, so we’re now holed up at home as a family recuperating from the holidays.

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas. I’ll be back very soon with Alice’s birth story (finally!), Lucy’s world in photos (she got a digital camera for Christmas!) and more.

Happy New Year!

Christmas is so much more magical this year because of Lucy. At almost 3, she’s totally into Santa and presents and the reindeer, and is terribly excited.

“Lucy, do you know how Santa gets into the house?”

“Hmmmm. The front door?”

“Nope, he comes down the chimney.”

“Oohhhh.”

*pause*

“But him might lose a boot!”

___

For the reindeer, we have carrots. For Santa, we have homemade shortbread, milk…and a beer. I always left one for Santa, so Lucy wants to, too.

___

Today at the grocery store, I saw a woman with 11 packages of cream cheese in her cart. And thought: I’d hate to be on a diet and having dinner at her house. Also: What the hell is she making? And can I have some?

___

Eric’s Mom arrives tomorrow to spend a few days with us. We’re at my parents Christmas Day, a neighbourhood party Boxing Day, and Eric’s cousin’s the 27th.

I hope you’re surrounded by as much family as we will be, and that Santa is good to you and your little ones.

Have a wonderful Christmas!

 They are pretty much exactly the same age in these photos, and it’s so interesting to see how really quite different they are.

You know you’re married to an engineer when: He creates support systems for your collapsing gingerbread house.

 Guess who got new sheets from her Papa for Christmas? And is finally sleeping under them, with her feet covered, for the first time ever?

I found a whole series of these photos on the camera, taken when I was in the shower on Sunday. Eric and Lucy are in for it when Alice can fight back…